In the first days following their occupation of Vitebsk, the Germans began to raid the Peskovatik neighborhood, a predominantly Jewish area of the city. Jews, both singly and in small groups, would be taken to the Staro-Ulanovskiy Jewish cemetery, due north of the Peskovatik neighborhood, and shot there. Following the establishment of the ghetto on the opposite bank of the Western Dvina River in late July 1941, some ghetto inmates were brought to the cemetery to be shot, probably by members of Sonderkommando 7a or Einsatzkommando 9 of Einsatzgruppe B.

More information: Yad Vashem

In late July 1941, the German authorities in Vitebsk ordered all the Jews in the city to relocate to the right bank of the Western Dvina River, where a ghetto was to be established. Since the bridge across the river had been blown up by the retreating Soviet forces, and the pontoon bridge set up by the Germans was off-limits to the local population, the only way to cross the river was by boat. Belarusians who owned boats and rafts put their craft at the Jews' disposal, for a fee. During the crossing itself, German soldiers, who were patrolling the river in boats, capsized the boats and rafts that were loaded with Jewish families, and beat the Jews who tried to swim out with oars and rifle butts. Other German soldiers, stationed on the opposite bank, were shooting upon the Jews crossing the river. A total of about 300 Jews were deliberately drowned during this crossing. This massacre appears to have been perpetrated by members of Sonderkommando 7a of Einsatzgruppe B, and by soldiers of various Wehrmacht units stationed in Vitebsk at that time.

More information: Yad Vashem

In late July 1941, the German occupying authorities rounded up approximately 300 young and physically strong Jewish men, gave them tools, and led them to the Ulanov hill, near the village of Mazurino, a short distance north of Vitebsk (the present-day Mazurino Cemetery inside the city). There, the Jews were shot dead, allegedly for arson. This massacre appears to have been perpetrated by members of Einsatzkommando 9 of Einsatzgruppe B.

More information: Yad Vashem

According to eyewitness accounts, as early as late summer-early fall 1941, groups of Jews of various ages and both sexes were taken to the sand quarries of the brick factory in the floodplain of the Vitsba River (at present, this site is occupied by the Park of the 40th Anniversary of the Komsomol), where they were shot. The perpetrators seem to have been members of Einsatzkommando 9 of Einsatzgruppe B. Following the annihilation of the bulk of Vitebsk Jewry in early October 1941, arrested Jewish fugitives – who had apparently managed to evade the massacre by hiding, but were later caught – would be held at the prison at the headquarters of the German occupying authorities on the campus of the Veterinary Institute (the present-day State Academy of Veterinary Medicine) southwest of the brick factory. From there, they would be taken to the quarries at the brick factory itself, and shot by members of the Secret Field Police.

More information: Yad Vashem

In August 1941, Einsatzkommando 9 of Einsatzgruppe B, under the command of Alfred Filbert, shot several hundred Jewish inmates of the Vitebsk Ghetto – both men and women, mostly members of the intelligentsia – in the Ilovskiy Ravine between the villages of Sebyakhi and Tulovo, about 5 km east of Vitebsk (nowadays, this area is part of the city). On October 8-10, 1941, several thousand inmates of the Vitebsk Ghetto were taken by truck to the Ilovskiy Ravine, forced to strip naked, and shot in groups of up to 10 people in the anti-tank trenches that had been dug in the ravine as part of a Soviet effort to defend the city. This massacre, too, was perpetrated by members of Einsatzkommando 9 of Einsatzgruppe B, who used the "thread of epidemics" as a pretext for the liquidation of the Vitebsk Ghetto. They were assisted by soldiers of the SS "Das Reich" Division attached to Einsatzkommando 9 and by local auxiliary policemen. In December 1941, members of Einsatzkommando 9 of Einsatzgruppe B shot about 200 Soviet Jewish inmates of the POW camp in Vitebsk.This shooting, too, seems to have taken place in the Ilovskiy Ravine.

More information: Yad Vashem

According to the testimony of one survivor, during the liquidation of the Vitebsk Ghetto Jews were taken to be shot at the Dukhovskiy Ravine, which lies under the hill of the Church of the Holy Spirit in the southern section of the city, on the east bank of the Western Dvina River (nowadays, it is a summer amphitheater at the intersection of Lenin Street and Frunze Avenue).

More information: Yad Vashem

According to testimonies gathered by the Soviet Extraordinary Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Vitebsk, about 500 people, some of whom appear to have been Jews, were shot in 1942-1943 by German Security Police officers. The shooting took place in bomb craters in the area of the Vitebsk machine tractor workshop.

More information: Yad Vashem